Human Rights Day Event: The Right of Rights 1948-2008

Centre for the Study of Human Rights public debate

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this fun yet challenging event will ask which is the greatest right.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights devotes 26 of its 30 articles to declaring what our basic rights are. The rights to life, privacy and fair treatment before the law are there, as are guarantees against torture, slavery, discrimination and arbitrary arrest. The civil liberties of free expression, assembly and association make an appearance, as does the democratic right to participate in the government of your country. So too do social and economic rights to education, health, social security, health and leisure, and much else besides. This declaration of rights, long hailed as a manifesto for mankind, has grown in authority through its sixty years of life. Now to celebrate its birthday, the Centre for the Study of Human Rights asks its audience to vote on which is the greatest right of them all. Is it to think, to eat, to rest, to talk, or something unexpected, like the right to own property or to enjoy the arts. In a series of rounds, invited contestants will argue the case for their right, defend their choice and prove its worth against others, until eventually only one remains, the Right of Rights 1948-2008.

Shami Chakrabarti is director of Liberty. Conor Gearty is director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE. Francesca Klug is a senior research associate in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE and a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Peter Townsend is professor of international social policy at LSE.

Howard Davies (chair) is director of LSE.

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